Friday, January 17, 2014

Humanism: The activist atheist’s wimpy brother.

I’d like to call my self a Humanist.It has such a nice connotation and at face I
seem to have much in common with them. Their code of ethics is based on
positive assertions.You know, like
respecting science and being kind to our stupider theist brethren (my words not
theirs).

But the fact is the few times I’ve brushed elbows with Humanists I tended
to find myself being looked down on like some kind of bomb throwing radical
fiend, out to destroy peoples beliefs, ridicule them, and cause them angst in
the process…as though that’s a bad thing.

I read a blog today by the executive director of the American Humanist
Association that really tweaked my hump.Among a lot of pastoral avuncular babble he included condemnation of
Richard Dawkins for things he said that make nonbelievers seem arrogant and which
are hurtful to religionist / non-believer relations (as though I want a
relationship with believers).Two
examples were Dawkins’ statements that "… religion is
an organized license to be acceptably stupid."and that the “…combined
number of Nobel Prizes won by Muslims was less than that won by a single
English university.“

Both of those statements are true, at least by any thinking person’s standards.
Without organized religion and it’s doctrine of inculcating stupid, and
maintaining it, people who independently “believed” in creationism would be
declared stupid by the entire planet. There is no reasonable debate about that.Only the fact that organized religion
supports and promotes ancient ignorance and rejects scientific fact is what keeps
religious people from understanding and accepting the fact of evolution.It’s mass stupidity by doctrine.

As for the Muslims’ notable lack of contributions to civilization over the past
couple of centuries; the inference is real. Muslims represent 1.6 billion people / 23%
of the planet’spopulation, yet they garnered less than 1% of the Nobel
prizes awarded. Compare that to the 13.8 million Jews who represent 0.2%
of the planet’s population and have been awarded 23%(TWENTY-THREE PERCENT) of the Nobel
Prizes.

Dawkins’ comparative example’s point is clear:Islam does not (any longer, nor for some time) promote, foster, nor
admire intellectual growth and academic achievement. It contributes little to
the advancement of civilization. Indeed, it goes beyond that even to being a
detriment to our advancement.

Yes, the truth sometimes hurts.That’s
life.If Humanism is about sugar
coating, caging reality in less in your face terms, playing word games, and
making nice to the point where the telling of a truth - in all its ugliness - is
interpreted as "arrogance" that puts freethinkers in a bad light and
hurts the feelings of the willingly deluded who would impose their delusions on
all of us just as they do to their children, well… that's why I remind myself
why I won’t call myself a Humanist.Fact
is, I’m now suspicious of those that do.

As Humanists are the wimpy brother of activist atheists, so too are they the
first cousin of Uncle Tom atheists; those Neville Chamberlain, appeasing atheists, who
decry the activism of the FFRF, or Americans United for the Separation of
Church and State as “inflammatory.”
Fuck ‘em both.

Thanks for the kind words, Bob.We are on the same wave length on this issue.

I have no patience for "Don't say that, or do that, or be so overt in expressing your aversion to their beliefs lest they hate us." mentality.

Hell, they already hate us and if they were true to their Bible they'd demand our deaths. Somehow that negates the need for my showing them social niceties.Benign contempt and dismissal is about as social as I will get.

Great column, Hump. I just want to point out that what is now the Muslim world made huge contributions to mathematics and science, yet virtually all of those contributions predate the birth of the pedophile prophet Mohammed (PBUH). Coincidence?

To Hump: excellent post.To NewEnglandBob: "The accomodationists are the worst." Agreed. A recent example of a very shameful accomodationist act came from the "vice-chancellors' group: Universities UK", a learned body. For those who are not familiar with the UK university system, a vice-chancellor is the equivalent of a university president in the US. It was a great disappointment to read that "Universities can segregate women and men for debates, says university guidance" (http://www.secularism.org.uk/news/2013/11/universities-can-segregate-women-and-men-for-debates-says-university-guidance).

It was a great surprise to me that they stooped so low to please Muslims.

Though the guidance was withdrawn after Downing Street weighed in (http://www.secularism.org.uk/news/2013/12/universities-uk-withdraws-its-guidance-on-gender-segregation), the damage has been done to the reputation (if they have any left) of the Vice Chancellors' Group. These so-called learned people have lost their backbones.

Something wrong here. I understood that over 90% of the National Science Foundation were atheist. So it is surprising that so many Nobel Prize winners are religious...it must be those peace prizes and fiction prizes go to atheists.

On the other hand, in defense of some religions not getting a share of prizes, it could be a biased selection for them as well as atheists.

zcz...Thanks.I've heard about many instances of the UK kowtowing to their Muslim minority. Wrote a chapter on it in one of my books. This is just another example. I fear the UK is trading away its birthright to placate the radical Muslim movement.

LuWeeks: 93% of US' Academy of Science, 96% of the UK's Royal Society (the counter part in the UK). Yes, atheists. Here's some info:

"...60% of laureates come from Christian backgrounds, 24% Jewish backgrounds and 16% from other backgrounds but even here we do not have direct accounting only implied likely religions based upon biographical data such as familial or personal influences by association. One could say anyone has a christian background but that speaks nothing as to his current belief or non-belief at any given time."

I agree with the article's closing statement above. But even if some Identified as Xtian are in fact non-believers of some sort, the fact that "16% from other backgrounds" would/could imply that atheist Nobel winners are disproportionate to their very small 2.5% representation on the planet.

Oh for goodness sake. While I'm as keen as many to slag off the current crapness of Islamic culture and its frightening tendency to follow the Xtain nutters into creationism and all kinds of anti reality nonsense can we at least try to criticise them accurately. Please just go and look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Golden_Age. In particular "The Abbasids were influenced by the Qur'anic injunctions and hadith such as "the ink of a scholar is more holy than the blood of a martyr" (also see ijtihad) that stressed the value of knowledge". It is truly depressing that people who claim to be pro learning repeat these falsehoods about religions so frequently. I don't know when Islam went to pot,but if the Nobels had been around between about 800 and 1200 they would all have been going to muslims.

Anon...Not sure what your objection is...nor where I criticize Islam improperly. Perhaps you can show me after reading this comment reply:

Yes, Islam was a font of learning, the protector of great manuscripts, inventor of the numerals we use, learned astronomers. etc.etc.

Then it all went to shit over the past ..what did I say in my blog?... "past couple of centuries". Right?

Much of the blame for this turn around in Islamic respect for learning is due to Wahabism which started in the 18th century. Wahab said the Koran contained all the learning we need, is good enough, and endorsed wholesale book burnings and the rejection of secular knowledge.

So..yeah.. "if the Nobel prize" were there in pre-Wahabism period, Islam would have indeed shared in them. But it Didn't, and they currently Don't. Period.

Ah, the joys of posting quickly. Your article was fine, as a humanist I could quibble but that would be mainly over definitions.

My ire was mainly directed at the sentiments expressed by Riley The Atheist Dog, that is "what is now the Muslim world made huge contributions to mathematics and science, yet virtually all of those contributions predate the birth of the p(a)edophile prophet Mohammed" which is stunningly wrong. Almost exactly inverted from what I understand. I have heard similar assertions made a number of times in a number of places and they wind me up. The worst was the assertion that Islamic culture has given NOTHING to the world - made in all places on an Astronomy Blog!!!

The following comment also stated "Even as far as the 7th and 8th centuries, Islam contributed to science, poetry, mathematics... but then it all went to shit pretty quickly" which seemed to bolster this comment. On rereading I note that this is from you Hump. Given your response to my previous post am I to take it that this is in fact a typo and should read 17th and 18th centuries? If so then I think we're actually in agreement.

Indeed your discussion on Wahabism actually fills in a blank for me. Given the nature of islamic civilisation at its peak in the 800 - 1200 period and its tolerance in place likes like spain before the reconquest it has always saddened me that it has fallen so far and I've wondered why.

Its a bit like comparing the views of renaissance christian Europe with US fundies in the 21st century.

I drink to that! Now you can too.

Befriend a Camel...

About Me

DROMEDARY HUMP, The Atheist Camel,is the alter-ego of BART CENTRE, a lifelong freethinker, atheist activist and the author of "The Atheist Camel
Chronicles: Debate Themes and Arguments for the Non-Believer,"
and "The Atheist Camel Rants Again!"
A Vietnam veteran and “atheist in a foxhole,” he was awarded the Bronze Star, Combat Infantryman’s Badge, and Army Commendation medal. He is a
retired senior vice president of a national retail corporation
and holds a BA in psychology with a minor in religion.
Mr. Centre is the creator of the Eternal Earth-Bound Pets post-Rapture pet rescue spoof website
which has received worldwide attention and acclaim.
A lifelong New Yorker, Mr. Centre now resides on his "camel ranch" in New Hampshire with his much-put-upon and saintly “quasi-Episcopal” wife of forty-three years and his two atheist dogs. He has two grown, freethinking sons.

The perfect gift for the boy in your priest's life.

The consummation of the Prophet's marriage to his new bride

The Prophet Muhammed

Is it any wonder why he couldn't get adult women and had to settle for children?

Fine Religious Art: Jesus endorses the Constitution of the United States

Well, that settles that!. Jesus was evidently a Founding Father and US citizen. OK, maybe an alien resident. Of course, since Jesus was illiterate he may as well be endorsing the menu at Wendy's.

Maybe Mormon polygamy isn't so bad: Julianne Hough, Marie Osmond...

Oh, wait.... never mind.

Sign in a Hasidic neighborhood in New York

Translation: "If we see your leg we will beat you into a much shorter life span."

Billy is about to get a lesson on the meaning of "The Religion of Peace"

"Thank you for your drawing of the Prophet Muhammad, Billy... but now we have to kill you."

Islamic fun at the beach?

Nah! Just preparing a rape victim for stoning in the prescribed Muslim manner, This should curb her unruly sexual desires.

Christianity Explained in 115 Words

The belief that a walking dead Jewish deity who was his own father although he always existed, commits suicide by cop, although he didn't stay dead, in order to give himself permission not to send you to an eternal place of torture that he created for you, but instead to let you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh, drink his blood, and telepathically promise him you accept him as your master, so he can cleanse you of an evil force that is present in mankind because a rib-woman and a mud-man were convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree, which he knew they would do to begin with. -- Anon. _________________________ The whole thing would make Jesus die laughing, if he wasn't already dead, and assuming he ever existed.

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